IDK if this supplier is an SMB or a “big guy,” but case in point:
Now I also don’t know if this applies to these suppliers, but so many companies have adopted the “just in time” inventory strategy that started rising in the 2010s. It’s just a crafty way to say they have just enough (or almost enough) immediate supply for immediate demand–not long term demand, not projected demand, etc. Only right here, right now.
While that strategy is possible (and hopefully profitable) when supply chains are intact, unfortunately it also means that an on-hand supply gap like this takes so much longer to recover from.
(Again, that might not be the case with these suppliers specifically.)